Three relatively rare lunar events will converge early Wednesday, creating an almost unheard-of space spectacle that will have Southland sky-gazers waking up early to stare upwards, and will have the Griffith Observatory hosting an overnight eclipse party.
It’s being billed by NASA as a “Super Blue Blood Moon,” a collection of a supermoon, a blue moon and a blood moon that will delight space buffs beginning at about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Essentially, there will be a lunar eclipse, but it is occurring during a blue moon, which is the description given to the second full moon of a calendar month. It is also occurring during a supermoon, which happens when the moon is at its closest point to the Earth, making it appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual. The peak of the supermoon will actually occur early Tuesday morning, but NASA is still dubbing Wednesday morning’s moon a supermoon.
A blood moon occurs during a lunar eclipse when the Earth passes between the moon and sun, giving the moon a reddish tint.
So with Wednesday morning’s eclipse, we’ll have a combination of a super, blue and blood moon. The same convergence happened in 1982, but this will be the first time a “super blood blue moon” will be visible in the Western Hemisphere since 1866.
The Griffith Observatory will be opening its grounds at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday for dedicated sky-gazers. Anyone planning to attend is being advised to arrive early, expect crowds and potentially long walks. Attendees are prohibited from bringing their own telescopes and may not bring lawn furniture.
The eclipse is expected to begin at 3:48 a.m., reaching “totality” at 4:51 a.m. The moon will begin emerging from the Earth’s shadow at 6:07 a.m., with sunrise scheduled for 6:51 a.m.
The observatory will also be offering a live-stream of the lunar event on its website.
–City News Service